Friday, June 17, 2011

As noted above, the old Tuono was our favorite offering from the Noale, Italy-based Aprilia, but the new V4R will lose the previous model’s 1000cc V-Twin character. However, twin-cylinder fans needn’t fret, as the 1197cc Dorsoduro steps in to fill that void.
The 750cc Shiver and Dorsoduro are very appealing in their own right, yet performance from their three-quarter-liter V-Twins have been a little underwhelming. But after years of rumors about larger-displacement version of the same engine, Aprilia has finally delivered with the Dorsoduro 1200.
The Max Dorso has already been introduced in Europe, and our correspondent Tor Sagen brought back a glowing review you can read here. Although no lightweight (at a stated 457 lbs dry), the Dorso 12 comes to the party with a claimed 130 crankshaft horses to give it midrange grunt the 750 can’t approach. The big Dorso’s appeal is also expanded with high-end features like traction control and optional ABS.
“The Dorsoduro 1200 is all I ever wanted from the 750 that wasn’t there,” said Sagen after his ride. “The 1200 engine has got all that full richness I always look for in V-Twins. That sorted, the bike is now 100% pure fun.”
Just as intriguing, this new 1200cc V-Twin will surely find its way into other Aprilia models. We anticipate a Shiver 1200 to be unveiled during 2011, and it’s possible the new powerplant may find its way into a pseudo adventure-tourer like Ducati’s weird but successful Multistrada.
The only downside is that we’ll have to wait until mid-2011 until the Dorsoduro 1200 arrives in North America. MSRP is set at $11,999.